Trump Hotel Received $270,000 From Lobbying Campaign Tied to Saudis
Gulf kingdom opposes law that lets Americans sue foreign countries over terrorist attacks
By Byron Tau and Rebecca Ballhaus
June 5, 2017 6:12 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump’s Washington hotel received roughly $270,000 in payments linked to Saudi Arabia as part of a lobbying campaign by the Gulf kingdom against a controversial piece of terrorism legislation last year.
The payments—for catering, lodging and parking—were disclosed by the public relations firm MSLGroup last week in paperwork filed with the Justice Department documenting foreign lobbying work on behalf of Saudi Arabia and other clients.
As part of a lobbying effort against the bipartisan Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, or JASTA, Saudi Arabia’s Washington lobbyists and consultants spent approximately $190,000 on lodging, $78,000 on catering, and $1,600 on parking at the Trump International Hotel. The Daily Caller website first reported on the payments.
Mr. Trump last month made Saudi Arabia the first stop of his first international trip as president, and described the country as a key ally in the war on terror and an important partner in bringing peace and stability to the Middle East.
Saudi Arabia has been lobbying against JASTA, a law that was passed by Congress over former President Barack Obama’s veto. It allowed Americans to sue foreign governments over terrorists attacks.
The payments to the Trump Hotel were made by one of MSLGroup’s subcontractors and reimbursed by the Saudi government, according to Michael Petruzzello, an MSLGroup executive. They were part of a lobbying campaign bringing American military veterans to Capitol Hill to advocate against JASTA, he said.
All the hotel spending took place between Nov. 2016 and Feb. 2017, according to Mr. Petruzzello. Most of the payments to the hotel were made before Mr. Trump was officially sworn in as president, but some were in late January and early February—after Mr. Trump became president.
Survivors and families of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks have been pushing for the law so that a lawsuit can proceed against Saudi Arabia for any alleged role in the attacks. The kingdom has denied any involvement and U.S. officials have backed that position.
Ethics officials have raised questions about foreign government payments to the Trump Organization. Watchdog groups say the Trump Organization’s business with foreign entities, in particular governments that book rooms or events or other business at the Trump International Hotel near the White House, risks violating a constitutional provision that bars federal officers from accepting payments or gifts from foreign countries without Congress’s consent.
The president has retained ownership of his business empire while turning over management to his two adult sons, Donald Jr. and Eric. Critics say those steps don’t do enough to fully separate the president from his business interests.
The Trump Organization has thus far declined to provide details about its handling of profits from foreign government, after Mr. Trump earlier this year said his company would transfer any such profits to the U.S. Treasury.
The White House referred questions about the payments to the Trump Organization. A spokeswoman for the company didn’t respond to a question about how it would handle the Saudi Arabian payments.
The Trump Organization in recent weeks has tangled with the House Oversight Committee over its handling of profits from foreign government. The committee in April requested that the company provide documents detailing how it identified payments from foreign governments or foreign government-owned entities, as well as how it calculated profits from those payments and how it would donate those profits to the Treasury.
In response, the company sent a pamphlet saying it wouldn’t attempt to identify representatives of foreign governments unless customers presented themselves as such. It also said it wouldn’t identify all of its foreign customers, describing the request as “impractical in the service industry.”
“This is a textbook example of a foreign government paying directly into the President’s pocketbook while pursuing its own policy goals,” said Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the oversight committee, in a statement. “Saudi Arabia is spending vast amounts of money at President Trump’s hotel while at the same time pressing to limit the rights of U.S. citizens to sue the Saudi government.”
The White House had no immediate comment on Mr. Cummings’s statement.
EXCLUSIVE: 9/11 families sue Saudi Arabia, accuse the U.S. ally of complicity
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